University of Texas students send yacht off-course with GPS exploit (video)

Students from the University of Texas gave us another reason not to mess with the Lone Star state: they'll hack your yacht. In cooperation with a luxury boat's owners, the Longhorns manipulated their $80 million vessel's nav system, covertly guiding it off-course -- all without the crew ever suspecting foul play. By transmitting spoofed global positioning system signals toward the craft, the students tricked its drivers into correcting a non-existent, three-degree course deviation, thus leading them off track. With their work done, the Texans believe this shows exactly how easy it is to exploit civil-band GPS signals. College kids may have conned the helm this time, but it isn't too far-fetched to think pirates could do the same. Our timbers are shivering just thinking about it.